After my death our beloved Church abroad will break three ways ... first the Greeks will leave us as they were never a part of us ... then those who live for this world and its glory will go to Moscow ... what will remain will be those souls faithful to Christ and His Church.~St. Philaret of NY

I came to this parish in 2001. A wise friend told me that by leaving the Synod [the 2007, unionist ROCOR / MP - RD] we were creating a schism.But I firmly believed in staying in the original ROCA and away from the Moscow Patriarchate.

Now there is talk of creating a new church.I do not understand what the reasons for this are.Nobody has ever explained to us, members of the parish, why this is necessary.What is wrong with the old church, father Wsewolod's church?What is wrong with Metropolitan Agathangel?Even after going to parish meetings, people do not know the answers to these questions.

We have learned from the internet that the Metropolitan has said insulting things about two members of the Board.I am very sorry about that.Nobody should be insulted, but do we have to go into schism because of it?Do we, members of this parish, have to risk our souls because of a personal conflict?

Does the Board, who are lay people chosen to do service for the Church, have the right to rule the Church and cause changes in the Church hierarchy?Choose another bishop?Bar the appointed priest from entering the altar and serving liturgy?Take the Metropolitan to court?Forbid him to enter the church?

And ultimately, are lay people allowed to make all these decisions about the Church?It happened in Soviet Russia, but it did not work out well for the Church.If the canons and the Church hierarchy are not respected, then we are only a company, a corporation, more like a grocery store than a spiritual entity.

Would you kindly respond in English, for there are a few people who do not speak Russian;I am one of them.

COM_KUNENA_TOPIC ROCA: Letter to the Church Council of Trinity Church in Astoria

Snezhana response from our member of the Church in the English language:

Dear Snezana,

Your observations and understanding of things are quite correct. Yes, there are no answers to these questions because the two bishops in question who wish to separate themselves from our church- wish to do so for reasons of a personal basis. As that is not realistically possible, (because, as we know- we must be obedient to the Church and to the decisions of the holy councils of bishops which are guided by the Holy Spirit, and not give in to our own desires, our own passions, our own will), they therefore make claims about Bishop Agafangel making some uncanonical actions / decisions, and even accuse him of heresy.However, they have no facts WHATSOEVER to support their so-called claims. (Whereas Metropolitan Agafangel can back up all of his and the councils' actions with proof.) It is suspected that there are certain people behind the scenes who influence and provoke them, solely to reach their goal of destroying our church, slyly, from within . Since the tactics (of the former communist regime) of destroying the church from without resulted in producing multitudes of holy martyrs and only increased the strength of the Church, the tactics used nowadays are much more subtle, and from within, through the use of people's weaknesses and passions, with the intent to sow discord between each other, and thus little by little destroying the unity of the church, and creating schism. Meanwhile, the schismatics sincerely think they are on the side of the truth, and may even produce wonderful sermons about the truth etc., yet there is nothing to back up their claims and reasons for separating from the Church. (Getting insulted and offended, or else not getting what you want, is not a legitimate canonical reason!) In fact, their intention to take the Metropolitan to court and their intent and means of choosing a new leader is wholly uncanonical and even has no logical basis, and the spirit in which it will be done can only produce bad fruits and worse.

All involved, both those who caused and are involved in the temptation and all those who believe the slander against the Metropolitan, should be prayed for, in the hopes that, - God willing- they come to their senses. We are called to pray for one another, and to wish for each other's salvation, as the Lord shed His blood for each and every one of us, and because He desires that all come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. May He forgive us, have mercy on us and save us. Amen

PS Be aware that there may be talk about "the truth not being in numbers" (ie that the number of bishops does not always mean that where the majority (of bishops) is, is where the truth is, and thus use St. Maximos the Confessor as an example).

The problem is that two bishops are trying to build their own 'church' in defiance to 12 ROCA bishops.Also, they try to attract everyone in this schism, constanly slandering and mixing truth with lies. While showing out everyone that they are extremely spiritual persons, they talk in beautiful manner about 'love to the truth', 'the truth of God', 'conserving of traditions', 'the struggle against the seizure of the power of SOME persons' .

I would like to say to all members of our sisters and brothers, all members of our ROCA American parishes: start asking those 'clerics' for the prove of their statements based on church Canon Law, not beautiful words. Ask them to base their words on canons, on ROCA Charter, not on their emotions and favors.

Do this and you will see that they got no canon basis for their statements at all, and, instead of hypocritical manners of those people, you will find yourself before angry full of hatred faces of schismatics.

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THE SISTER CHURCHES

The True Orthodox Churches of Romania, and Bulgaria, and with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and with the Synod in Resistance, are called by the Grace of the Lord to coexist in Mysteriological communion.

from §4 of “Schedule of Steps in the Union Process” Feb. 2014

VL AGAFANGEL PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Theotokos and all the Saints: keep our souls unharmed from the destructive influences of globalism, ecumenism, and sergianism, and give all of us the strength to endure the latest onset of persecution of the Church of Christ. Amen

QUOTE

"I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you... I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.”

St. John Chrysostom

QUOTE

"If we have a good priest (or bishop), we give thanks to God. If a bad one, we endure him".

- old Russian saying

QUOTE

"And here is something to which I would like to draw your attention to – something about which very many do not think about. Father Archimandrite Constantine, whom probably many of you know, the reposed editor of the journal “Orthodox Rus’”, a profound Christian mind, considered that the most terrible among all the achievements of the communists was that the communists created their own false-church, a soviet church which they shoved onto the unfortunate people in place of the genuine Church which went underground into the catacombs. Do not think that I am exaggerating or that Father Constantine was exaggerating!

Once, in the year 1918, a Pan-Russian Church Council was held. At this Council, the entire Pan-Russian Church together with its first holy hierarch, Patriarch Tikhon anathematized, excommunicated from the Church not only the theomachists and godless ones themselves, but also all those who would collaborate with them."

~St. Philaret of NY

QUOTE

"To the Russians abroad, it has been granted to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves. But if it does not perform this purpose and even abases Orthodoxy by its life, the Diaspora will have before itself two paths: either to be converted to the path of repentance, having acquired forgiveness through prayer to God and being reborn spiritually and to being capable of giving rebirth to our suffering homeland; or else being rejected by God and remaining in banishment, persecuted by everyone, until gradually it will degenerate and disappear from the face of the earth."

from Vladika John's report to the All-Diaspora Sobor in 1938

QUOTE

The apostasy of our times, to a degree unique in Christian history, is proceeding not primarily by false teachings or canonical deviations, but rather by a false understanding of Orthodoxy on the part of those who may even be perfectly Orthodox in their dogmatic teaching and canonical situation. A correct "Orthodoxy" deprived of the Spirit of true Christianity—this is the meaning of Sergianism, and it cannot be fought by calling it a "heresy," which it is not, nor by detailing its canonical irregularities, which are only incidental to something much more important.

- Russia's Catacomb Saints

QUOTE

Let it not be thought, however, that I affirm that it is necessary to prize every peace. For I know that there is a splendid disagreement and the most destructive unanimity. Yet one must love a good peace which has a good purpose: unity with God.

-St. Gregory the Theologian

QUOTE

... To pious Christians the fact that the world has fallen into godlessness is to them obvious, and they are ready to see it as an unfortunate historical inevitability ...

Professor Viktor Trostinkov

QUOTE

If you want to have assurance that you are saved, repent now that you are young and healthy and it is manifest that you left sin while you were still able to sin. But if you persevere in sin into your old age, why then you did not leave sin, but rather sin left you.

St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

QUOTE

Live in peace not only with your friends, but also with your enemies; but only your personal enemies, and not the enemies of God.

St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves

QUOTE

Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.

St. John 7:24

QUOTE

"If Russia is not ressurrected, a new Golgotha threatens the whole world."

Priest Vladimir Evsukoff 1980†

QUOTE

A man who does not express a desire to link himself to the latest of the saints (in time) in all love and humility owing to a certain distrust in himself, will never be linked to the preceding saints and will not be admitted to their succession, even though he thinks he possesses all possible faith and love for God and for all His saints. He will be cast out of their midst, as one who refused to take humbly the place allotted to him by God before all time, and to link himself to that latest saint (in time) as God had disposed.

St. Symeon the New Theologian

QUOTE

SCOBA, to which world orthodoxy gives such great significance, reproaching us for not belonging to it, actually is in no way a canonical organ. The Russian Church Outside of Russia was invited to take part in these conferences; however, our Church refused to send representatives there after clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate were invited. "We never and nowhere will sit at one table with them; by this our spiritual communion with the Universal Church is not broken."

Archpriest George Grabbe 1969

QUOTE

"Let us always thank the Lord that we are in the Holy Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which throughout the 80 years of its existence has trodden the straight, royal path of God, without ever turning aside and losing its way."

QUOTE

The passions lying hidden in the soul provide the demons with the means of arousing impassioned thoughts in us. Then, fighting the intellect through these thoughts, they force it to give its assent to sin. When it has been overcome, they lead it to sin in the mind; and when this has been done they induce it, captive as it is, to commit the sin in action. Having thus desolated the soul by means of these thoughts, the demons then retreat, taking the thoughts with them, and only the spectre or idol of sin remains in the intellect. Referring to this our Lord says, 'When you see the abominable idol of desolation standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand)... (Matt 24:15). For man's intellect is a holy place and a temple of God in which the demons, having desolated the soul by impassioned thoughts, set up the idol of sin. That these things have already taken place in history no one, I think, who has read Josephus will doubt; though some say that they will also come to pass in the time of the Antichrist.

Philokalia

QUOTE

There are three things that impel us towards what is holy: natural instincts, angelic powers, and probity of intention. Natural instincts impel us, when, for example, we do to others what we would wish them to do to us (cf. Luke 6:31), or when we see someone suffering deprivation or in need and naturally feel compassion. Angelic powers impel us when, being ourselves impelled to something worthwhile, we find we are providentially helped and guided. We are impelled by probity of intention when, discriminating between good and evil, we choose the good.

Philokalia

QUOTE

The outward Gospel of social idealism is a symptom of loss of faith.

Fr. Seraphim Rose

QUOTE

Impurity of intellect consists first in having false knowledge, ...

Philokalia

QUOTE

Isn't Marx really the third of a trio with Darwin and Freud as a practical source in the war against revealed truth?

Fr. Seraphim Rose

Letters, 1972

QUOTE

QUOTE

To: ROCA members from the MP

"You have to understand that you have long been in a false church, which implants in its members' souls, a false spirituality, which in turn takes root and grows stronger and stronger, the longer a man stays in it."

Bishop Athanasius, 2014

QUOTE

Mankind has gone mad, and we see with horror the abyss into which it is being drawn. Let us lay aside every worldly care, and let us fall down in prayer and readiness for the dread Judgment of the Lord. Death will not come with bombs and poisons. Death has already come and take up residence with us and in us, and has made corpses of us, Mammon has overwhelmed this sinful world, which is dominated by Queen Science, Lucifer himself, which with one hand makes medicines and machines for man's foolish happiness and with the other terrorizes him by means of the bomb! Such is the sorry state of knowledge and the agony of the world through and through. Let us lift up our hearts.

-Photios Kontoglou (†1965) letter to Dr. Cavarnos dated 5/10/57

QUOTE

"Psychopaths are a superior subspecies. We transcend humanity. We are Nature's Supermen. We deserve the subservience and availability of everyone around us. Luckily, every year 100-million people are born throughout the world. We have 100-million new choices every year."

-Sam Vaknin, self-realized psychopath

QUOTE

Our Saviour placed the Church in the world in order to save the world, and Satan is always trying to place the world into the Church in order to destroy the Church.

attributed to Desert Fathers

QUOTE

"If you see lying and hypocrisy, expose them in front of all, even if they are clothed inpurple and fine linen."

Metropolitan Anastasy (Gribanovsky) of New York (1906)

HALL OF SHAME

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